Place cinnamon or vanilla in a small saucepan with the sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for two minutes; stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for two hours. Strain out the cinnamon or vanilla and refrigerate.

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If you've never had homemade grenadine, you're in for a treat. Unlike the commercial stuff, which is little more than corn syrup and food coloring, this homemade grenadine uses real pomegranates and dried hibiscus flowers. If you can't buy fresh pomegranates, bottled not-from-concentrate juice (such as POM) can be substituted. The hibiscus and pomegranate juice give this grenadine and deep, garnet red that will give any drink a brilliant crimson hue.Hibiscus "flowers" are actually the fleshy red calyx that remains after the petals fall off. The fruit with its fuzzy black seeds is usually remov..

Reese and I have been working on developing a tiki kit that will soon be available exclusively through UncommonGoods. We've been making plenty of great tiki drinks to test our recipes but with the cold, wet weather this week we were in the mood something a little warmer than the usual frosty tiki drink. I've developed a variation on my favorite hot buttered rum recipe that takes advantage of the bottles of tiki mixers in our bar. Toasting the butter gives the drink a rich flavor reminiscent of molasses cookies.Toasted Tiki Buttered RumHeat in a small saucepan over medium heat:1 tablespoon unsa..